Away from the busy bee focussing plethora of success stories of NRIs lies the syndrome of the empty nest for the elderly parents, finds Ravi Sinha he loneliness on the face of the old lady sitting alone in the balcony of the apartment next door is palpable. Frail and well-dressed, she is often found seated on a raised platform outside the huge temple in the city. She is financially well off but air of complete loneliness allied with a quiet dignity is really touching. She lives all by herself in Delhi and her only son had bought the flat for her but is away in Virginia with his family. She had gone there recently on a six RAVI SINHA
T
................................................................
Empty Home Syndrome Demands a Common Nestle
PRAVASI TODAY | JANUARY 2010
Ravi Sinha.pmd
84
month visa but had returned after barely six weeks unable to bear the cold. The truth is that she did not like the West, although she had complete freedom in her son’s house but did not feel at home. The old lady is one of thousands who now form part of the fast swelling segment of the elderly - the parents of Non-Resident Indians who are left here to fend for themselves. Some of them mark the hours at sabhas and temples while halfway across the globe, the time races by for their children. Says a couple in their seventies whose children have migrated, “Both 84 çoklh VqMs | tuojh
2010
1/1/2010, 4:56 PM